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As those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere may have noticed, we’re in the throes of summer. Awful, hideous, stifling summer. Technically, as it’s mid-August, we’re past the halfway mark, but this is by far the worst of the months. For the past decade or so, I’ve noticed that excessive heat (i.e, anything over 70°F) tends to exhaust me that much more quickly, as well as turn my brain into a lurid paste, so with that in mind, I’ve decided to take a wee holiday away from ‘Shouting etc etc’. To be honest, I should’ve done this after the blog’s anniversary, which would’ve made more sense… perhaps it’s time for a new tradition…

For those of you concerned that I’ll be on the same kind of hiatus that ‘Kitten with a Whip!‘ has been on since 2005 ahem, don’t worry; I’ll only be away about a month. For those of you hoping I’d be packing it in altogether, don’t worry; I’ll only be away about a month. Either faction can take heart in the knowledge that you don’t have a third straight year of me bitching about the fucking Woodward Dream Cruise again, so really, everyone’s a winner!
Now that I’m thinking about it, it’ll actually be more of a holiday from posting, as there are two articles I want to finish, as well as a product review I’ll be typin’ up rather soon, but I’ll burn those bridges when I arrive at them.

Right, that should be it! Should I manage to find out the airdate for the episode of National Geographic’s ‘Taboo’ that the Missus and I are slated to appear in in between now and the time I’m due to return, then of course I’ll let everyone know all about it, but apart from that, broadcasting should return to normal round 15 Sept. In the meantime, why not take this opportunity to hit up the ‘Shouting etc etc’ Time machine, found in the lefthand sidebar, and scroll merrily through this site’s vast and protracted archives? Or there’s always this! This is a hoot. Click her, drag her, but don’t judge her just because she has two left hands and feet. It might’ve happened to you too, y’know.

10 have spoken to “(pause)”

I love the Woodward Dream Cruise, and look forward to it every year. The main reason is because I just like classic cars of all sorts. The horseless carriage is, on the surface, a very simple proposition. But the actualization of that simple thing has resulted in nearly infinite variety. I’m always amazed by the myriad shapes, sizes, features, colors… the sheer diversity that resulted from someone trying to solve the problem of getting from A to B and doing it better than the next person.
I also love it because…
-It draws more than a million visitors a year to our area… with all of the attendant spending on food, drinks, hotels, sundries, and, oh yes, gasoline… and in the times of economic suck where we now reside, this is a very needed thing. The only business I’ve seen that disagrees with this is the Magic Bag, for unknown reasons… how about showing classic 50s car movies and having cheap beer or something… you guys could make a mint!
-Detroit was the birthplace of the U.S. auto industry, which quite literally changed the entire world (granted, not always for the better, but…) The money earned by ordinary folks at their auto industry jobs built and grew the entire metro area. This is something to be celebrated, something we can be proud of and call our own.
-I’ve had out of town guests from as far away as Japan come to the WDC, and all of them come away impressed by the sheer scale and quality of the spectacle, the variety of people peacefully interacting, and the fact that it’s 100% free of charge. It’s a good time for an awful lot of people who desperately need good times.

Yes, it snarls traffic for a couple of days. There are plenty of other roads in the area. I’ve never been delayed going anywhere by the WDC. Yes, sometimes people drink too much and yell a lot. Who cares? Keep in mind also that I actually live off a section of Woodward where the cruise reaches, so I have more right than most to complain… but I think, all in all, it’s a lot more good than harm.

You raise some valid points, but I’ll continue to bring up the points against, like I always do when I hear about the Dream Cruise. Like the example Tomas had of a Woodward service station owner, circa 2004:

With thousands of cars passing my station during the weekend, I actually LOSE money due to poor sales because nobody can get in or out of my station because all the spectators blocking the driveway.

Granted, it’s an economy boost, but it’s a very temporary one. And there’s always the fact that it’s more like a levelling-off, cos for those that come from out-of-state to spend money here, there are those that live here that would ordinarily be spending money, but they’re driven (ho ho) away from spending, due to the influx of Dream Cruisers entangling traffic.

Finally, like I always say, personally, I’m not keen on the aesthetics of classic American cars, but for those that are, they can always herd them into a designated area, where people can gaze at them longingly, and where they’re not crowding a thoroughfare. Much like how the Battle of the Brits does it. Hell, isn’t there a racetrack up towards the centre of Michigan’s palm? Get ’em round there, where they can drive in circles for hours.

I’m sure there are businesses hurt by the Dream Cruise… I’ve just never seen any of them. When I worked at American Pop on 9 Mile, every business along that strip (the road was closed to traffic, too, which should hurt sales) had sidewalk sales, and everyone reported their best day of the year. We quadrupled our usual take.
It is certainly true that some residents leave in order to avoid the crowds and thus take their money with them. But in order for the effect to cancel out, over a million people would have to flee the Detroit area… not to mention the fact that residents don’t normally stay in hotels down the street from their houses, or go out to eat in restaurants every single night. The effect is comparable to a tourist town like Frankenmuth… there are certainly residents who flee during the summer break, when tourists are thickest, but would you say that those residents leaving counteracts the huge flood of tourist money that comes in during that time?
Yes, it’s inconvenient to avoid Woodward for a few days, but it’s only once a year. If the DC (and events like it) really hurt more than they help, then why do cities compete for things like Super Bowls and the Olympics? Here we have an event of our very own, every single year. You don’t have to enjoy it, or participate, but trust me, it does help our area and the image of our area.
Your idea of gathering all the cars in one place has a lot of merit. This is what they do for the Concours d’elegance at Meadowbrook, for example. But having it along Woodward exposes all of those businesses in a nine mile-long swath to the customers, not just the vendors who can make it to the event location. There’s also no place to hold an event like this that will absorb a million people; the event would, as a result, be smaller and less impactful. To which I’m sure you’re saying, “Great!”… 😉

Wolfgang –
But WHAT OF THE CHILDREN
Seriously, I wouldn’t be grumbling at all if I only had a TARDIS. Not only is that guaranteed better transport, but I could circumvent the Dream Cruise altogether! Forever.

Elisheba –
Glad you dig it! It’s sexy and unsettling all at the same time, which always makes for fantastic entertainment. 🙂

This was my first year of going to the Dream Cruise. Yes, the traffic was horrible, made worse by the fact that the cruisers all tried to make it through the yellow lights at 3 miles per hour, blocking every intersection to cross traffic. How can cruising and being in a hurry to get there co-exist?

Once I had gotten where I needed to go, everything was just fine. I love the old cars and the custom ones. People were friendly and more than willing to talk car at length. I didn’t spend a dime other than the fuel to get there. All in all I’d say it was a generally harmless bit of distraction for the area. That is, other than the fact that it took place on an Ozone Action Day.

roo –
Now this… this is what I like to hear about — Organik lasses into Synthetik blokes. There aren’t enough of you out there! Something needs to be done about that…

Hi roo! Well, much like how female technosexuals exist in small numbers, there are a handful of male Gynoids (we just call ’em ‘Androids’) out there. There’s good ol’ Geminoid, the affictitioustwin of roboticist Prof. Hiroshi Ishiguro; there’s this bloke, made by Beijing Yuanda Super Robot Technology Co., Ltd., the creators of the Chinese Gynoid Dion, and you’ve got Joey Chaos and Jules, both made by Hanson Robotics, who only partially count, as they’re just heads, but you have to start somewhere.

There’s a sociological aspect to why there aren’t as many Androids being developed as there are Gynoids, but since it’s not even nine in the morning, I’ll not get into it right now. 😐 But they’re out there, even if there are only a few, so take heart! As Synthetiks become more popular with mainstream society, they certainly won’t be the last…